


Dawn

by FeugoFox42



Series: Kindness Critters Prompts [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Campaign 1 (Critical Role), Campaign 2 (Critical Role), Gen, Post-Campaign 1 (Critical Role), mighty nein spoilers, vox machina spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:08:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28927836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeugoFox42/pseuds/FeugoFox42
Summary: "At Dawn, we meet."Despite contact having been slow since Vox Machina's official disbanding as heroes of Tal'Dorei, Vex jumped at the call from Keyleth to hear what her 'big news' was about
Series: Kindness Critters Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2121654
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> For specific episodes, spoilers for Campaign 1, Episodes 87-90 and Campaign 2, Episode 100-107

Vex'halia prided herself on a few things more than anything in her life.

For one, _Lady_ Vex'halia. Pelor above, that was such an amazing thing to hear. After years of torment from her peers back in Syngorn for her bastard, half-blood heritage, to have a title that was her own, one that she had to earn rather than be given to her. And earn it she did; Grandmistress of The Grey Hunt in Whitestone.

Second, her bartering skills were top notch. Even Shaun could tell the first time they met him, he saw them as the "bunch of bumblefucks" that they were, but nothing was getting past her. Two times in her life since she started forging her own path with her brother and Trinket had she paid full price for an item, and one of them was that... bloody 30 Gold book on Orcus. She respected the man, but it pained her to pay retail for it. The other time was totally out of her hand, and that was when Grog bartered _up_ the price for some healing potions because for some reason the group let the (at the time) _illiterate_ Goliath try to haggle when he couldn't even understand the concept of numbers properly! (On reminding herself of that encounter, Vex did have to take a handful of calming breaths - it was in the past, she _totally_ worked back some of that gold from the man the next time they interacted, and Grog had significantly improved his basic skills understanding simple numbers and words in Common now.)

And third was her attentiveness. Even with over 50 years on this planet under her wings (not literal wings, sadly. But she had the broom, so silver linings) and with six children all running about - although Vesper couldn't exactly class as a child anymore, she had very recently celebrated her twenty first birthday - she was still as observant as she was back when she adventured full time with Vox Machina. Honestly, she couldn't tell if having children made her _more_ observant over the years, or less so. With her training as a Ranger she was primed to be acutely aware of her surrounding, picking up on any small changes to make sure very little could sneak up on her...

"Vex!!"

So imagine her absolute shock, dismay and fear when a sudden loud voice rang through her ears with near reckless abandon in the wee hours of the morning.

She won't lie, she screamed.

The panic racking through her body throwing her out from under her bedsheets and onto the floor, scrambling to grab the dagger she often kept close to hand after a handful too many bad experiences at night in the past. Grasping the handle tight and raising the blade at the assailant, sleep driven delirium gave way to slightly more cognitive reason and her eyes landed on a familiar six foot tall half-elven woman with shoulder length red hair and a circlet adorned with a familiar and unmistakable pair of antlers atop it.

"Keyleth?" she muttered, bringing her hand up to rub the sleep out of her eyes, voice bassy and groggy from the interrupted sleep.

"Sorry Vex, I couldn't wait to tell you this, it was super important and I needed to tell you right away."

Vex sighed. Forty seven years of age, and yet her friend - the Voice of the Tempest - still exhibited those moments of youthful impulsiveness. To be fair, the woman barely looked like she'd aged a day since her wedding day - her actual, official wedding day, not the day of the sudden, impulsive decision she and Percy made in their year away from adventuring when Scanlan had left them, though it would have been true of the other option, which honestly made it worse considering there was easily 15 months between the two dates as is.

She was fortunate Percy was off on an excursion for a few weeks; there was tale of some rather rare ore out beyond Tal'Dorei, and whilst he had vowed never to make another gun again (a vow he had kept to this day), Vesper was the daughter of two great adventurers, and the call to action was getting increasingly harder for her to ignore. So, Percy said that he would search for something, a unique and special ore, for her. Once he had found a credible and safe location to procure some, he would journey out to retrieve that ore, and whilst he did she was to think on her decision. Once he was back, the two of them would forge her a weapon together using this ore. And once it had been forged, before she could take up her weapon, Vesper would be asked one last time about her choice. Should she choose to, she could answer her call to adventure with this weapon in tow.

"Darling, what time even _is_ it right now?"

"Uh..." the Druid muttered embarrassedly, glancing to the left out of the window. Vex followed her gaze; the sky was still dark outside. The few smatterings of light that she saw were the flickering fire orange lantern lights lining the streets of Whitestone below the horizon, and the cooler and far _far_ more distant ethereal blue glows of the twinkling starlight above the horizon.

"I _do_ appreciate the enthusiasm," the Ranger admitted, lowering the blade and sitting down on the bed, "but could this not have waited until daybreak?"

"So, here's the thing," the Druid began.

"Keyleth..." Vex'halia sighed, dragging her palm across her face expecting a long winded explanation before her eventual answer, the act of being abruptly woken from slumber not helping the situation for her friend one bit, as patient as she always tried to be for her.

"My mom came home last night."

Oh.

Oh wow.

That was not what she was expecting at all.

Rhythmic thuds fastly approaching from outside brought the pair's attention back to the present. Keyleth spun towards the door, a deep animalistic growl reverberating from her chest as her humanoid for swelled and toppled over into the form of Minxie, whilst Vex readied her dagger, partially wishing she had enough time to cross the room to grab Fenthras and knock an arrow.

" **Stay back!** " someone shouted, a young male voice, as the door to Vex and Percy's room was kicked in and three individuals rushed in to protect her. The first in through the door was a man... no, merely a boy of no more than seventeen years old, ears with a slight elvish point to them, bedhead prevalent but still standing there with one of the rifles Ripley had created from Percy's designs seemingly loaded and aimed into the room. He elected to stay near the door as another boy, younger - only twelve at an absolute push - and far more eager for battle, rode in on the back of a large wolf with deep charcoal grey fur, the boy wielding a shortsword of his own. Lastly through the door was a woman with ears as pointed as Vex's, and features almost perfectly matching her own as well, wielding a longbow no less. If not for the piercing blue eyes and the lack of feathers in her hair, one could easily mistake her for a young carbon copy of the Grandmistress.

In truth, the first time Grog met an adult Vesper de Rolo, he _did_ mistake her for a younger Vex.

"Children, children, it's alright," Vex cried out suddenly, seeing her children all charging in, weapons ready. She raised her hands up and stood between them and Minxie, whose growling had ceased on seeing the four bursting through the doors, "it's just your Auntie paying us an untimely visit."

"Auntie Kiki!" Percival de Rolo IV (or PercIVal, if you will) chimed in with glee, fighting spirit abandoned and sword dropping on the floor with a wooden **_*thunk*_** as he stood up and jumped off the wolf's back towards Minxie, who caught the young tween on her side and collapsed playfully as he giggled upon seeing her, the wolf joining in the greeting as the one feline it knew and trusted.

"Ivey, don't use Bibelot as a springboard!"

"Why _is_ Ivey up right now? The sun isn't even out yet, he should be asleep."

Vesper removed the readied arrow from her bow, frustration in her tone as she glared at her brother before turning her attention towards her mother and bowed her head. "Sorry mother, he had a nightmare and came to see me, but when I heard a scream I asked him to stay with Bibs in my room, but he refused to be left. So I sat him on Bibs and came as fast as we could."

"It's alright dear," she reassured, crossing the room to lay a hand on her eldest's shoulder and place a comforting peck on her cheek, whispering cheekily that, "Keyleth has no concept of time anymore," into her ear, causing the younger woman to chuckle to herself. She loved being able to have these sorts of conversation with her daughter as an adult now. "You heard the scream to, I take it?"

"I did," the elder male nodded as he removed the rifle from its raised position, still cradling it as if he was expecting something to happen any second.

"And why, pray tell," Vex continued, looking up at her eldest son, "do you have one of our rifles currently in your possession, Valen?"

Valen lowered the weapon fully and bowed his head too. "I'm sorry mother, but I thought it would be a good way to show whoever was going to attack you that the de Rolo family and Whitestone are not to be messed with."

"Sweetheart, I understand why you want to think that, but these weapons are dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that your father vowed to never create anything of the sorts again. These things," she emphasised by grabbing hold of the rifle by the body, "can cause so much harm, and the only reason we have these is as a last resort. They're not to be played around with and waved about at anything that so much as looks at the castle funny." It seems his mother's words registered, as Valen nodded glumly, seemingly disappointed at the life lesson.

She scooped up the rifle from her second eldest son, turning it over just as Percy showed her how to years ago - she may be a Ranger with a love of the classic Bow & Arrow combination, but that didn't stop her watching her husband explain all the intricacies of his creations. She knew how to strip it down without even really thinking about it... and she was pretty decent at doing that to the rifle as well. "I do hope though that you were only using this as an intimidation tactic dear, and you weren't in fact aiming a-" she opened the chamber to find a round loaded, looking up at him with the sternest 'disappointed strict parent' look she could manage in the pre-daylight hours, "- _loaded_ rifle at your mother."

"I-" he began, only to be stopped by Bibelot growling at Minxie, who had "kidnapped" PercIVal and was stirring up trouble.

"Keyleth, dear," Vex said, "I am trying to scold my son here. Could you maybe tone down the play a little so that I can do so without Bibelot threatening to wake the entire castle by howling? _Again._ "

There was a sad mewl from the oversized white tiger as it shifted back into its natural tall elvish form, her leafy mantle cascading down from her shoulders as she changed, now carrying PercIVal in her arms.

"I don't wish to know why you not only have a rifle in your possession at the castle, but enough powder and shot to gravely injure someone. Nor do I want to know why you thought it would be a good idea to potentially fire said shot in the early hours of the day and have the explosion echoing through the walls within the castle itself. You will spend the rest of your time until your father returns with Captain Leore learning about the safety of these weapons, and helping make amends for the fact that one of their weapons has likely been missing for a few days and there's probably been some punishments issued out on your behalf. You will not fire _any_ weapon until your father deems you responsible enough to be trusted to do so, do I make myself clear?"

With each passing sentence, Valen shrunk into himself as the gravity of his actions dawned on him. By the end, the nod of affirmation he gave would have been barely perceptible if not for his mother's keen eye.

"Now, take Ivey and head back to bed if you can. It's early and the sun will be rising soon, but best make an effort to get him back to sleep."

"Yes mother." He gingerly took PercIVal from Keyleth's hands - eliciting a groan of disapproval from the young boy - and headed off back to his own chambers in the hopes he could get back to sleep.

The Ranger sighed, making the rifle safe before passing it to her eldest. "Please make sure that your brother goes and speaks with the Riflemen today, and that this is returned with him. I will have to leave with Keyleth soon unfortunately; this was not much of a social visit." Vesper nodded, bidding her aunt a fond farewell before bringing her wolf companion along with her back to her chambers. "Well, I'd better get ready then," she sighed, walking towards her wardrobe. "I ain't going to get back to sleep now I'm on _that_ high."

"I'm sor-"

"Don't," she snapped before catching herself and tempering the frustration. "Don't apologise Keyleth. This is important, and it couldn't exactly wait - I get that. But like, you can _scry._ Why didn't you, I don't know, check to make sure that I was awake first? Then you would have seen it's still night time and maybe could have planned your excursion for three hours' time when I'm more awake."

"I did think about doing that, but what if you were taking a bath or something?"

Vex smirked at her friend. "Oh please, it's not like it's anything you haven't seen already." She threw out a wink at her old companion as she gathered her attire for the day, one that made the Arch Druid’s cheeks tint to almost the same colour as her hair. "Now, feel free to help me change if you are choosing to stay."

She chose not to help. Didn't leave though, either.

***

The half elves eventually left the castle grounds around thirty minutes later, Vex having made a quick pit stop to inform the guards of her brief and unexpected journey today, but that all being well she should have returned before sundown.

They also took a detour down to the Slayer's Cake, where they met the current Head Baker of the establishment, a half-orc named Shona, working away at fresh wears for the day's customers. Vex paid for a couple of pastries from the day before for her and Keyleth to eat, despite both Shona and Keyleth insisting that it wasn't necessary - Shona talking about her paying, Keyleth simply referring to Vex buying her food as is. Vex paid no mind to either. 

Hunger curbed at least momentarily, the two ladies finally strolled towards the great centrepiece of the Kingdom of Whitestone just as the dawn sun finally started cresting over the horizon; its branches stretched out in all directions, leaves obscuring the burning orange sky behind, its trunk still standing as mighty and proud as the first time they saw it healed after purging the Briarwoods from this Kingdom. 

"You want me to leave you two alone again?" Vex teased as they walked up towards the trunk of the Sun Tree, nudging her friend's shoulder.

"Oh, it's fine, we spoke before I came to get you," Keyleth assured.

Vex just stared for a moment. "How early did you get here to not only make it to the castle and back, but to also have a conversation with the Sun Tree, all before dawn?"

Embarrassed, Keyleth clutched the Spire of Conflux and glanced away, but Vex simply walked up and planted a quick kiss on her cheek before taking a hold of one of her hands.

"I'm only messing, darling. This is huge news. Now come on, let's go meet her."

Confidence renewed and with a squeeze of reassurance, Keyleth muttered the incantation for _Transport via Plants_ \- an unnecessary process now for her, but one she still does even to this day - and taps the bark of the Sun Tree, the magical doorway opening in front of their eyes. One final squeeze and the half elves stepped through the portal out into Zephrah hand in hand. 

Dawn had already been and gone in the mountaintop village, and as Vex'halia turned to stare out towards the east, the great cherry blossom atop the cliff they had walked out of was lit by the mid-morning sun, the time easily a couple of hours ahead of Whitestone. Vex couldn't help but gasp at the spectacle of it, a sound that made a fond smile grow on Keyleth's face.

"Come on; Mom's waiting."

The pair made their way through the village at a faster pace than normal, but not overly so. It was clear to the Ranger that Keyleth was eager for Vex to meet her mother, and she couldn't fault her for it - everyone thought that she was dead, considering all they found was her leg.

"Keyleth?"

"Hmm?"

"How... exactly _did_ your mother survive?" The Druid glanced back at her friend, who did look a little awkward having to ask this sort of question.

"It's-" she cut herself off with a light chuckle, "-oh, it's quite a story. It's better if I let her tell you, but basically she escaped through the Water Plane and landed on an island where she survived for nearly thirty years."

"Oh wow," Vex muttered. Soon, the pair approached Keyleth's abode in the village, a hut larger than the rest meant to signify the house of The Voice of The Tempest. There were a few Air Ashari gathered nearby, but they all parted on seeing their leader approaching.

"Tempest, we are grateful for your return," one Ashari, a male elf who looked far older than the pair, said.

"This news, it is great," another added immediately after, this one a human of similar looking age to the male elf.

"Thank you for your kind words," Keyleth replied genuinely, offering a slight bow to the pair. "But please, do not gather at our door. This time is for family to reconnect with one another, and I for one would greatly appreciate it if you allowed us that time. Once she feels like she has readjusted, my mother will likely come out and get acquainted with the life in Zephrah once more." The two men bowed, offering mumbles of "certainly" and "of course" as they turned and left, taking the other, less vocal gathered away with them. Keyleth's expression dropped the moment they were gone. "Urgh, I hate those guys. So clingy."

Ceasing an opportunity, Vex wrapped an arm around her friends and mentioned casually that, "there's nothing wrong with clingy, dear. But I do agree; there's a time and a place, and this wasn’t it." She smiled a soft smile at her friend, noticing for the first time the faintest trails of tears down her freckled cheeks. Vex said no more, nodding her head towards the front door. With a grin in response, Keyleth lead them both inside.

Sitting at the table opposite was Korrin, whom Vex had met a couple of times before, and a woman whom she had not. She had dark sunburnt skin and a tangle of dark brown messy hair with sun-bleached tips, though there had clearly been an effort to untangle the mess. She wore a leather, scale and leaf outfit in earthy greens and oranges. On seeing the pair entering, she stood to greet them, and in an unconscious moment Vex glanced down towards her left leg - sure enough, there was no skin and bones there, only a mass of tightly knit green vines that alluded to a leg that once was.

"Welcome home Keyleth," the woman greeted, loving smile on her face. "Is this your companion you mentioned you _needed_ to get at once?" Vex chuckled along with Mom-leth as Keyleth's cheeks darkened in yet another blush. "I only joke, dear." The woman turned to the Ranger and extended a hand. "It's wonderful to meet you. My name is Vilya."

Vex took the hand and shook it. "Lady Vex'halia of Whitestone, the pleasure is all mine." Formalities over, she went in to hug the woman, earning at first a surprised "oh!" that turned into a gentle hug as the beginnings of tears began pooling in the corners of Vex's eyes. She knew what this meant for Keyleth - as an Arch Druid, she had the ability to age at a speed unnaturally slow compared to the rest of the world around her. And with elvish blood in her veins, she would easily live to be over a millennium old when her time comes. Everyone she would have loved - Percy, Pike, Grog, Scanlan, even her father and Vex herself - would eventually pass by a couple of hundred of years into her time as protector of the Ashari people. And she would be alone.

But not anymore. Not with Vilya here now.

So the tears were selfish, Vex could admit that. But it was the dawn of a new lease of life for her friend, so she wouldn't stop the tears, even if she tried.

"Welcome home."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all enjoyed my first jaunt into writing CR Fanfic.


End file.
